A Little More Than Friends
by Belle Walker
Summary: Spoiler for "Wet Foot/Dry Foot". Written August 2003.


"Calleigh!" Eric Delko caught up with his colleague in one of the CSI corridors. "Listen, I was wondering if maybe I could crash at your place tonight?"

At the blonde's curious look, he explained. "I'm trying to keep a low profile and Horatio's been stirring up the neighborhood."

Calleigh gave a slightly amused smirk as they made their way to one of the Crime Lab's layout rooms. "You know how he is. He's like a dog with a bone."

Her colleague replied, "Well, he needs to learn how to let go. This girl's family doesn't care about solving the crime. Their niece is already dead. They're thinking 'We gotta protect the _living_'."

"I can't say I blame them," Calleigh answered mildly. She slid past Eric and entered a glass-walled room where a laptop computer and microscope were set up.

Eric waited in the doorway.

Calleigh typed a few commands into the laptop's currently-running program, then moved on to the microscope. A smile slowly graced her face as she peered into the eyepiece. "On the couch," she relented with her soft southern accent. "No midnight tiptoe. Deal?"

"Deal," Eric answered with a grin, coming to stand beside her at the microscope.

_(time break)_

Her throat felt like she was trying to swallow sandpaper. It was unusually hot and dry that night, so Calleigh wore only a tank top and cotton shorts to sleep in.

She swallowed, trying feebly to rid her mouth of its dry feeling.

"Water," she told herself. "A big glass of cold water."

Calleigh left her bedroom, snuck past the couch in the living room where her colleague lay sleeping, and entered the kitchen.

The cool water tasted wonderful to her parched throat. She deposited the empty glass in the sink and turned to go back to her bedroom.

As she neared the couch, Eric's leg shot out directly in front of her.

"What the—oomph!"

Eric's wide-awake and grinning face was a mere few inches from hers. "That was _so_ graceful," he teased with a glint in his eyes.

"You did that on purpose!" Calleigh accused, giving him a swat on the chest. She had managed to land directly on top of the guy, and was extremely embarrassed about it.

"Hey, what can I say? Beautiful women are always falling into my arms," Eric declared, trying not to laugh.

Calleigh's long blonde hair was drifting down around her face, slightly tickling Eric's T-shirt-clad arms.

Eric reached a hand up and tucked a lock of hair behind Calleigh's ear, letting his fingertips brush against her cheek. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked gently.

Calleigh felt very awkward there on top of her friend and colleague. "No. You didn't hurt me." She put a hand on his chest to push herself up into a sitting position next to him. "I hope I didn't hurt _you_."

"Me? Nah! Can't hurt me—I'm pure muscle," Eric answered with another grin, patting his firm chest for emphasis.

"And so humble," Calleigh snickered.

Eric sat up next to her and leaned back into the couch. "I can't believe how hot it is," he commented.

"Yeah, and to add to that, my air conditioning isn't working," Calleigh answered.

"I wondered about that." Eric draped a companionable arm across her shoulders, eyeing her sleeping attire. "You didn't have to dress up just for me," he teased her again.

"Uh! Excuse you!" Calleigh pretended to be offended. "I happen to be wearing these for _me_, not for you."

Eric was silent for a few moments, and Calleigh wondered if she'd hurt his feelings somehow.

But then he spoke again, with a shyness she didn't know he possessed. "Hey, Cal ...I've been thinking," Eric began.

"That's dangerous, you know," Calleigh responded lightly with a soft smile.

Eric chuckled. "Yeah, I know." He hesitated a moment, then turned his head to look into her eyes. "I was wondering...would you ever go out with me?"

Calleigh was completely floored. Eric Delko wanted to date her?

When she didn't answer immediately, Eric took it to mean 'no'. He looked away from her wide eyes so she wouldn't see the rejection in his. "Of course you wouldn't," he said quietly. "I shouldn't have asked. Forget I even said it."

Calleigh quickly got over her shock. "Hey." She put her hand tentatively on his cheek and turned his head towards her. Looking directly into his eyes in the dark room, she said, "You just surprised me with that question. That's all." She gave him a sweet smile. "I would love to go out with you, Eric."

Eric regarded her with a serious, yet hopeful, expression. "Really?"

She nodded, still smiling. "Really."


End file.
